Year 5 Class News

Fun in maths

Having reminded ourselves of  place value this week, we used all of our refreshed knowledge to play some maths games and challenge ourselves along the way.

Beanbag drop

Somebody threw the  beanbags into the basket and everybody had to write down the number it made.

Then, that person took charge and asked us questions about our number. How many thousands? What is 100 more/less? What is this number rounded to the nearest 10,000?

Target challenge

We rolled a die to decide how many digits we were working with. Then, we picked a target (the greatest number, a multiple of 5, the number closest to 6000). Each person then picked a playing card for us to write into our place value grid aiming for that target. Sometimes we all won and sometimes one person had thought more carefully.

Questions dice

For this, we roll the die to make a number and then we had to roll again to choose a question. Sometimes we had to add 100, sometimes we had to take 10. It really helped us to understand what each digit was worth in that number.

Welcome back

Hello all and welcome back.

It will be great to see everybody back in school having had a long summer to refresh ourselves. I’m excited to be in a new classroom and year group as, I hope, our new Year 5s are, too. We’ll be diving straight into a great mini-topic based on a picture book by Shaun Tan (more below) which has some amazing artwork. Each week, I’ll post on here an overview of what we’ll be focussing on in English, Maths and Topic. This means that people at home will be able to get an idea of what the children will be learning and what they might need support with.

English starts with us recapping our grammar, recognising nouns, adjectives, adverbs, verbs, prepositions and conjunctions while we enjoy our class picture book. This will run alongside developing our skills in descriptive writing by using all of those different word classes effectively. To help at home, test each other on what type of word is on a road sign or in a recipe. Here’s a list of definitions and examples if you need a refresher too and there are some posters in the playground…

noun – can be an object (the table, a book, an orange), a place or person (Miss Rushbrooke, Leeds, Moortown Primary School).

adjective – gives information about a noun (large table, clever Miss Rushbrooke, wonderful Moortown Primary School).

verb – an action word (to play, to sneeze, to hink). These might have ed or ing added to the end, too.

adverb – gives information about the verb. You might say how (play nicely, sneeze extravagantly, think carefully), where (play on the grass, sneeze in assembly) or when (play after dinner, sneeze all through the night).

conjunction – joins two sentences together (We went to bed because we were tired. It’s raining so I’ll get an umbrella.).

preposition – indicates where or when (in, around, under, through, after, whilst).

Maths will be kicked off by ensuring we are able to read numbers up to 1,000,000 and we understand what each digit in that number is worth. This will involve ordering, comparing and rounding numbers before then applying this knowledge to real life contexts. To help at home, notice numbers around you and say them out loud. Decide which is bigger or smaller and test each other by asking what is 100 more or 10 less.

Topic will be focussed around Shaun Tan’s ‘The Lost Thing‘.  We’ll look at art by Salvador Dali and take on the role of news reporters as we write a class report on the discovery of the ‘lost thing’.

SEAL New beginnings

As we start the new school year, our SEAL (Social and Emotional Aspects of Learning) theme focuses on New Beginnings.

We have three new members of staff making a new beginning at Moortown, Mrs Wells, Mr McKeon and Mr Lawton, alongside new children joining our school and our new Reception class.

‘I make someone feel welcome‘ is the first SEAL statement to launch the theme.

New beginnings allows children the opportunity to discuss and reflect on how they or others may feel in a new situation or setting. This SEAL theme offers children the opportunity to see themselves as valued individuals within a community, and to contribute to shaping a welcoming, safe and fair learning community for all.

During the theme, the key areas of learning are empathy, self-awareness, social skills and motivation.

Through discrete SEAL lessons, circle times and across the curriculum, children will explore feelings of happiness and excitement, sadness, anxiety and fearfulness, while learning (and putting into practice) shared models for calming down and problem-solving.

New Beginnings supports the development of a learning community in each classroom where all members feel that they belong. Class contracts, produced at the start of the year, allow children to contribute to how they feel they can achieve a safe and fair learning community.

Reading

Just as the summer started, the papers were full of articles about ideal holiday reading for adults and children alike. (I think ideal holiday reading is any reading you want to, whether it’s in the holidays or not!)

How many books has your child read this holiday? More importantly, what sort of discussions have you had with your child about what books you’ve been reading, and of course what they’ve been reading. (I’ve already had chats with Mrs Weekes and Miss Valentine about my summer reading. including a great children’s book, ‘Grace‘ by one of my favourite authors, Morris Gleitzman.)

As we approach the end of the holidays, it’s an ideal time to reflect on what we’ve read – and start the new school year off taking a positive, encouraging approach to your child’s reading.

Encourage your child to read anything and everything: a story, leaflet, brochure, comic, flyer, advert… It could be for pure entertainment, or with a different purpose: to use a recipe, make a shopping list, read street signs, or any kind of text!  The more varied reading your child does, the less likely they are to be put off reading a text.  Don’t be too pushy either – texts which are too difficult can put children off (harder books might be best left to bedtime reading); all children should be able to read their reading book 90-95% accurately and fluently in order to enjoy and gradually progress in their reading.

• Build reading accuracy – as your child reads aloud, point out words they miss and help them sound out and read them correctly.
• Build reading comprehension – talk with your child about what they’re reading, asking about new words and what new information they’ve learned.
• Read together every day – don’t forget reading aloud to your child at bedtime reading can count, too!
• Don’t overlook non-fiction texts – spend time talking about pictures and diagrams.
• Visit the library regularly – did your child take part in the local libraries’ Summer Reading Challenge (see News article on 13 July 2015)?
• Use the Internet – find out more about the books your child has read or would like to read next, and just enjoy surfing the internet for facts and figures about whatever interests your child.

Enjoyable, regular and short practice is the best way for your child to progress and learn through reading.  Make sure your child spends 10-15 minutes reading each day and use the guidance below to ensure (s)he is getting the most from every book they read.  The questions will need to be varied according to the book and your child.  The book may lend will to developing knowledge, phonic, punctuation, writing or comprehension skills.

Don’t attempt to try to cover all the bullet points! It might be a good idea to focus on just one of these areas every few days or so, or just choose a question from two or three sections.

Comprehension

• Did you enjoy the story – why?
• What happened at the start / in the middle / at the end?
• Was there a problem?  How was it resolved?
• How would you have resolved the problem?  Can you think of another way?
• What would you do if …
• What was the main idea of the story?
• Can you summarise the story in a couple of sentenced?
• Try to predict what will happen before the story ends.
• Write about a memory or experience of your own that is similar to something you’ve read in your book.
• Write a letter to someone telling them about the book and your opinion of the book.
• Construct a time line to fit the story.  Include all the main events

Characters

• Who are the characters?
• What do they look like?
• What kind of clothes do they wear?
• How did the character feel when …?
• What kind of mood was the character in?
• What kind of personality do they have? Kind, caring, nasty, bully, liar, friendly, quiet, noisy …?
• What does it say in the text that makes you think this?
• What do other characters think or say about this character?  Why do they feel this way?
• How does your character treat other people in the book?  How does the character change throughout the story?  Explain and give support for your answers.
• Can you re-write the story and include your own character?
• Write a description of the main character – their looks, the way they dress, the way they talk and their personality.
• Draw and label a character or a setting from a description in the book.

Story setting

• Where is the story set?
• Imagine you are in the story …
• What can you see?  What can you hear?  What can you small?  What can you feel?
• Can you write a description of the story setting using adjectives?  eg I found myself standing in the middle of …
• What is the weather like?

Non-Fiction

• Research the subject further using the internet or local library.
• Write down in your own sentences some facts you have learnt from the book.
• Can you think of anywhere we might be able to find additional information about this?
• What do the pictures or diagrams in this piece of information add to the text?
• How are these different to the pictures you might find in a story?
• Can you point out: a heading, sub-heading, caption, diagram, introduction, contents page etc?
• Why has the author organised the information in this way? (You could refer to sections and sub-sections, bullet points etc)
• How do you feel about …?  Can you explain why?

Final thoughts on a great year!

Well, that went quickly!

I was really looking forward to teaching the class again this year and they have not disappointed. I’ve had a great year and have thoroughly enjoyed teaching them again. There have been so many highlights this year. Here’s an A – Z of favourite memories:

• Ahmed’s absolute desire to always reach the top of the learning mountain in maths lessons.
• Archie body popping his way to the Moortown’s Got Talent title.
• Arran’s scene-stealing performance in the production, wearing a strap-on tortoise shell!
• Bailey’s brilliant, last minute Mouse performance in the production.
• Brandon’s growing obsession with Bear Grylls.
• Ethan’s incredible drawings of Robo-Dog.
• Henry’s great writing progress whilst continuing to be the ‘human calculator’.
• Ibrahim’s funny, yet annoying, cricket sound effects.
• Isabella’s brilliant performance in the production (She even knew most of the lines from Act II as well!)
• Jahneil’s blossoming fractions confidence in maths.
• Jaskirat’s great creative homeworks
• Jawaad’s many pets and Fighting Fantasy books.
• Jennifer’s amazing homeworks and Scratch creations.
• Lanas’ superb learning behaviour.
• Lennox’s solo singing in the production – and his scream!
• Levon’s deadpan humour.
• Linda’s enthusiasm!
• Molly’s fabulous performances in the school sports teams.
• Oliver’s sense of humour.
• Pavan’s singing and all round performance in the production.
• Ravinder pulling his shorts up to his chest in PE lessons and acting as if it was perfectly normal.
• The shock that Rayhaan doesn’t love Hondas anymore!
• Roshan’s laugh.
• Sam trying not to giggle in RSE lessons.
• Shahban’s Malteser song: “Malteser. I’m gonna tease ya! I’m gonna eat ya! Malteaser!”
• Simran laughing so much that she starts to cry.
• Sofiah’s love of Jacqueline Wilson.
• Tayshaun’s “Make way for the King and Queen of Hearts!” in the production.
• Yahya’s very slow reaction time when Lennox poured water on him at the Mad Hatter’s tea party.
• Zachary becoming the first Prime Minister of Year 5 in our election.

Thanks to all for their part in making it a great year. A big thanks also to Mrs Bald who has done a brilliant job. Have a great summer holiday and I’ll see you in September.

Summer Reading Challenge 2015

This year, the Summer Reading Challenge returns with the challenge of breaking records!

It’s really simple to join in and complete the challenge. All you have to do is

1. Join any Leeds library (including mobile libraries).
2. Borrow three books and read them. (You could write a short book review on them too.)
3. You can borrow any book: stories, joke books, information books or even audio books.
4. Return these (to any Leeds library) and borrow another three books.
5. That means you need only borrow six books altogether – or more, of course!
6. Once you’ve returned your second lot of three books, your challenge is complete!

We’re hoping to get lots more children taking on the challenge this year and enjoying their reading over the summer. Try not to borrow thick books that you’re never going to finish and make sure you pick books you’re going to be interested in, or, try something new. For any more information, take a look at the leaflet below.

 

Healthy Schools award

Following our School Health check earlier this year, to maintain our Healthy Schools status, we were proud to attend the Healthy Schools celebration event to receive our award.  Held in the debating chamber at Leeds Civic Hall, we enjoyed presentations from councillors and other schools around the 4 areas of Healthy Schools – physical activity, PSHE (personal, social and health education), healthy eating and emotional health.

Two of our sports leaders were invited to lead a practical session in the break for other pupils who were attending.  They did this with great confidence and encouragement.

As part of the event we also had the opportunity to use the voting system in the debating chamber to vote on key areas across health and wellbeing for councillors to consider on a city-wide strategic level.  Based on data from the 2014 My Health My School survey, our current Year 5 and 6 classes will be completing this survey for 2015.  The top priorities identified were levels of physical activity and eating 5 a day.

Summer sports and arts camp (Edward Lynch)

Edward Lynch, a local dance coach who has worked with children during our curriculum and extra-curricular dance sessions, is helping to run a local sport and arts camp called IMPACT in the summer holidays.

Healthy changes

As part of our SEAL theme of Changes, last week our SEAL statement focussed on making healthy changes. Some suggestions from Year 1 include:

• have fruit dessert instead of cake
• do more after-school clubs
• ride a bike more
• walk to the shops instead of driving
• do parkruns with your family
• go roller skating or skateboarding more
• walk to school more
• drink more water
• run somewhere every day
• eat more or different vegetables
• ask to go swimming more

Cycling events

Over the summer holiday there are two cycling events taking place locally.